Dispensing package for paper-cup ashtrays and the like



DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE Filed April 18,1968 Nov. 25, 1969 D. L. ROWLAND 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ATTORN EYS DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE FiledApril 18. 1968 Nov. 25, 1969 D. L. ROWLAND 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 DAVID L.ROWLAND INVENTOR- ATTORN EYS Nov. 25, 1969 D. L. ROWLAND 3,480,179

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE Filed April 18,1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 DAVID L. ROWLAND INVENTOR.

BY 0W, UM @znJ ATTO RN EYS United States Patent 3,480,179 DISPENSINGPACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE David L. Rowland, 49 W. 55thSt., New York, N.Y. 10019 Filed Apr. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 722,351 Int. Cl.B65d 83/00 US. Cl. 221-63 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A packagefor holding and dispensing paper-cup ashtrays and the like. A stack offlattened ashtrays, each with an area of pressure-sensitive adhesive onits back surface near an upper edge and above the upper edge of the nextashtray below in th stack, enabling adhering each ashtray to a verticalsurface, is enclosed in a dispenserwrapper made from material that iseasily released from the pressure-sensitive adhesive. The wrapper coversthe pressure-sensitive adhesive and temporarily adheres thereto}, and atear strip portion on the dispenser-wrapper is at least as wide as thearea of pressure-sensitive adhesive and runs between the upper and lowerashtrays of the stack, enabling the package to be opened as desired fordispensing therefrom one ashtray at a time.

As shown in my US. patent application, Ser. No. 615,814, filed Feb. 13,1967, ashtrays resembling paper drinking cups can be made from laminatedfoil or fireresistant paper or plastic. These ashtray cups are generallyflattened and stack compactly. One important purpose of that inventionwas to provide an inexpensive disposable ashtray of a type which couldbe placed on the back of the chair in front of the user, to replace thesysthem of glass ashtrays set on top of many of the chairs in anauditorium. Hence, these disposable ashtrays were provided with apressure-sensitive adhesive area near the top of their rear surface sothat they could be adhered to vertical surfaces, such as the backs ofchairs.

Since pressure-sensitive adhesives readily sticks to practicallyanything, it is important that it be covered or protected with a layerof paper or plastic, such as wax paper or polyethylene, which does notstick readily to these pressure-sensitive adhesive and which can bereadily peeled from them. Even so, it is often a laborious task toremove the protecting paper, for the user has to get his thumbnail underthe paper to pull it off, and when a great number of cups have coverpieces peeled individually from them, the operation of setting up thepaper ashtrays over an auditorium becomes quite tedious.

The present invention combines an easily removed protecting cover with aunique easy-opening wrapper which also serves as a dispenser for theashtrays, one at a time.

In addition to the particular paper-cup ashtray described in my earlierapplication, simpler ones may be made from foil-backed paper or fromother fire-resistant material; such simplified astrays are likewiseprovided with pressure-sensitive areas needing a covering, and to thesethe invention also applies.

The invention thus accomplishes several purposes. The wrapper isprovided with a pull tab or strip which, when pulled, tears open thepassage; at the same time, it uncovers the pressure-sensitive areaswhich it had previously covered. Also, the tab can be pulled olf apressure-sensitive adhesive area, and ones thumb then pressed againstthe inner back surface of a cup to push the pressuresensitive areaagainst a desired wall or chair back or other vertical surface. Then thewhole package is pulled down, and the cup is dispensed from the package.Before 3,480,179 Patented Nov. 25, 1969 such use, the package protectsthe pressure-sensitive areas of the cups, and the pressure-sensitivearea may also help to hold the package together.

Also, the invention enables keeping the cups clean and enables rapidplacement of a large number of cups onto vertical surfaces, such as thebacks of a number of chairs, shortly before a meeting. Various aspectsof the invention will beshown and other objects and advantages of theinvention will appear from the following description of some preferredforms of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a dispensing package of paper-cupashtrays with pressure-sensitive adherent areas, all embodying theprinciples of the present invention, the package being shown in theclosed, unopened position.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of the package of FIG. 1 being openedby a user who has pulled the pull strip up from the bottom.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view in perspective of a portion ofFIG. 2 showing how a heat-seal line holds two layers together on oneside of the pull strip.

FIG. 4 is another fragmentary enlarged view in perspective of the sameportion as FIG. 2 as seen from the opposite side and showing how theedge of the inner layer of the pull strip serves as a cutting edge torip the outer layer.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the upper portion of amodified form of the package of FIG. 1 in which, in place of tucking theupper ends of the wrapper into the cup, the upper end is heat sealed.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a pattern from which the package wrapper ofFIG. 1 is made.

FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of a modified form of package embodyingthe principles of the invention, in which the tab for the pull strip islocated at the top instead of the bottom.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the upper portion of thepackage of FIG. 7 in the course of being opened.

FIG. 9 is a view in perspective showing how an uppermost cup isdispensed from the partially opened package of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a pattern for the package wrapper of FIGS. 7through 9.

A package 20 is shown in FIG. 1 to include a wrapped stack of paper-cupashtrays 21. Each ashtray 21 resembles the flattened type of paperdrinking cup having tapered end walls 22 and 23 so that the ashtrays 21stack readily. Being provided with closed bottom ends 24, the ashtrays21 can hold ashes that are flicked into them and can hold extinguishedcigarettes or stubs. These ashtrays 21 are necessarily made fromfire-resistant material, such as a laminate of paper and metal foil ornonburning paper, so that they will not catch fire when used. Eachashtray 21 is provided with an area 25 of pressure-sensitive adhesive,which may be rectangular, as shown in the drawings, or may be some othershape. In the preferred form of the invention that is illustrated, thisadhesive area is located near the rear upper edge 26 of the ashtray 21and goes down to approximately the edge of the next lower ashtray 21.The areas 25 may be applied as a strip to a stack of ashtrays 21. Thepressure-sensitive adhesive area 25 needs some sort of protection, and afeature of this invention is that, instead of using individual pieces ofwaxed or other peelable paper, an entire wrapper 30 made from suchmaterial is used.

The wrapper 30 of FIGS. 14 is like a sock with an open end 31 and aclosed bottom edge 32, which may be heat sealed from a flat sheet 33(FIG. 6). The upper edge 31 is tucked into the uppermost ashtray 21. Thepat- 3 tern 33, as shown in FIG. 6, has a fold line 34 to indicate wherethe upper edge 31 is folded over though the fold line need not be anactual physical portion of the flat pattern 33. At the bottom are twoouter projections 35 and 36 which are longer than the central portionand which are separated from a central bottom portion 37 by a pair ofnotches 38 and 39. When the blank 33 is wrapped around the stack ofashtrays 21, it is heat sealed along a line 40 at the bottom and along avertical line 41 parallel to the side edges 42 and 43 of the pattern 33.At this time, the projections 35 and 36 lie one above the other, and sodo wrapper portions 45 and 46 above them. The vertical heat seal 41 thuslies close to and parallel to the edge 42, and the two projections 35and 36 become a unified pull tab 44 of double thickness, available tohelp open the package from the bottom. The pressure-sensitive adhesiveareas on the ashtrays 21 help to hold the wrapper in place on the cups,while the heat-seal lines and 41 hold the wrapper 30 together as a sockand adhere the outer layer 46 to the inner layer 45. With somewhatthicker paper, it is not necessary to have the overlap, and a tear stripmay be provided with only one thickness and only one projection. Ineither event, the wrapper 30 is made from wax paper or other materialthat is readily peel able from the pressuresensitive adhesive areas 25without pulling off or damaging the adhesive.

In use, as shown in FIG. 2, the one who wishes to dispense the ashtrays,pulls the tear strip 44 upwardly, and the notches 38 and 39 cause thestrip 44 to tear away from the rest of the wrapper 30. The heat-sealededge 41 holds the two pull-strip wrapper layers 45 and 46 together, andtherefore the inner and outer layers are pulled up together to rip thepackage 20 open, as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner edge43 serves as a cutting edge to rip the outer layer above it. As the tearstrip 44 is pulled up further, the exposed pressuresensitive areas 25are freed, and the lowermost ashtray 21 can be pulled out from thebottom and its area 25 pressed against a chair or other verticalsurface; withdrawal of the lowest ashtray 21 exposes the next one andmakes it available. The tear strip 44 may be pulled up only part way todispense a needed number of ashtrays and the rest of the package left asis, to be opened further later when dispensing other ashtrays. Thus, theashtrays 21 can be dispensed one at a time.

In FIG. 5 a modified form of package 50 is shown in which, instead ofthe upper edge 31 being tucked in, the upper edge 31 is closed by a heatseal 51. This enables the ashtrays 21 to be kept somewhat cleaner,although this is seldom necessary. At any rate, the opening operation isthe same, the pull strip again working from the bottom.

FIGS. 7 through 10 show a package as an instance of a modified form ofthe invention, it being realized that other modifications are, ofcourse, also practical. Here again, the same type of stack of ashtrays21 is shown, but in this instance a wrapper 61 is heat sealed (or glued)across a flat bottom 62 and the upper edge 63 is provided with a tearstrip 64 that projects up from the top of the package 60, while theremainder of the upper edge 63 is tucked in. A blank 65 enabling this isshown in FIG. 10; the tear strip 64 is provided by two elongated notches66 and 67 separating the tear-strip portions 64a and 6411 from a centralstrip 68. Outer and inner layers 70 and 71 are heat sealed together by aline 72 in the completed package 60, making a double-thickness pullstrip 64. The beginning of ripping is shown in FIG. 8, in which theouter and inner layers 70 and 71 are being ripped, and thepressure-sensitive areas 25 are being exposed. In this form of theinvention, as shown in FIG. 9, the dispensing may be done one ashtray 21at a time. After the strip 64 has beeen pulled down a sufiicient amount,ones thumb is used to press the pressure-sensitive area 25 of the topashtray 21 against a wall or chair, then the hand pulls the wholepackage containing the remaining ashtrays down while the top ashtray 21is held by the thumb (or after it has been adhered in place), and theremainder of the package 60 is ready to go on for the next unit.

The tucked-in portion may be unfolded before dispensing the top ashtray21, or it will just come unfolded as the package is pulled down and thetop ashtray retained by the thumb.

Although called an ashtray herein, the member 21 may be used for variousother things, such as holding old razor blades and so on.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention will suggest themselves without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A package for holding and dispensing paper-cup ashtrays, comprising:

a stack of flattened ashtrays, each with an area of pressure-sensitiveadhesive on the back surface near an upper edge and above the upper edgeof the next ashtray below in the stack, said area enabling adhering ofeach said ashtray to a vertical surface, and

a dispenser-wrapper for said ashtrays made from material that is easilyreleased from said pressure-sensitive adhesive, said wrapper enclosingsaid stack and covering said pressure-sensitive adhesive and temporarilyadhering thereto,

said wrapper having a tear-strip portion at least as wide as said areaof pressure-sensitive adhesive running between the upper and lowerashtrays of said stack and enabling the Package to be opened as desiredfor dispensing therefrom one said ashtray at a time.

2. The package of claim 1 wherein saidwrapper-dispenser is heat sealedat both its upper and lower ends and along one edge of the tear strip.

3. The package of claim 1 wherein the upper end of the wrapper is tuckedinto the uppermost ashtray with the bottom edge sealed together and withthe tear strip having a seal along one edge thereof.

4. The package of claim 3 wherein the tear strip protrudes at the topand is pulled down to open the package.

5. The package of claim 3 wherein the tear strip protrudes from thebottom and the package is opened by pulling the tear strip up.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,335,015 11/1943 Lantheaume.

2,670,076 2/ 1954 Monks 20665 STANLEY H. T OLLBERG, Primary ExaminerU.S. Cl. X.R. 206-56

